Are Sound Cards Worth It?

[EmoRarity]

I know the modmic is really heavily pushed as well. However the only downside to it is that its in your face. I don't really care for mics in my face. I have my yeti on a table to the left of my computer desk and people can hear me perfectly. 

 

I saw my headphones recommended the 598's but they may be a little more out of your price range. I like to stay within peoples budgets. We can all play if we had the money we could buy this or that but its your money and we should respect that. You could get the 558's they are also open back and are fairly close in terms of quality. Keep in mind though that open back means that everyone will hear your headphones so if you are cool with that awesome

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-504631-HD-558-Headphones/dp/B004FEEY9A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399958465&sr=8-1&keywords=sennheiser+558

Now, its nice that you have had a good personal experience, and its fine that its been a good experience. But around these parts we have a tendency not to recommend on only personal experience. So please so posting recommendations off personal experience alone, it kinda sucks for the OP.

[calarahil]

Now, its nice that you have had a good personal experience, and its fine that its been a good experience. But around these parts we have a tendency not to recommend on only personal experience. So please so posting recommendations off personal experience alone, it kinda sucks for the OP.

And you are trolling because? I swear this forum sometimes is more toxic then a LoL forum post. 

 

 

Here is a mic test I did for you with my Blue Yeti mic I'm sure the snowball isn't far behind. I did this with shadowplay on my nvidia card hopefully no1 trolls me for that to I should avoid the AMD crowd they get pretty crazy to. 

 

[EmoRarity]

And you are trolling because? I swear this forum sometimes is more toxic then a LoL forum post. 

 

 

Here is a mic test I did for you with my Blue Yeti mic I'm sure the snowball isn't far behind. I did this with shadowplay on my nvidia card hopefully no1 trolls me for that to I should avoid the AMD crowd they get pretty crazy to. 

K? Doesn't change that all VoIP's can't make use of more then a Snowflake. 

And you are posting on personal experience again. 

[calarahil]

K? Doesn't change that all VoIP's can't make use of more then a Snowflake. 

And you are posting on personal experience again. 

 

Again I had mentioned earlier that the Yeti is overkill. Please read above the prior post before making a baseless troll for no reason. I said that the snowflake or the snowball would be good choices. I also noted that Webcam mics tend to sound just fine as well I have had better luck with webcam mics then the piece of garbage mics that gaming companies put on there headsets. 

 

This is what I would do. go with the snowball or the snowflake if you want. I find the yeti is very sensitive and is probably a bit overkill for a general use mic it has a lot of other uses for example if you did podcasts or if you were using more then one person to talk into it. I would use the M50's with your onboard and see if the sound quality is enough for you if you feel its not enough perhaps re evaluate it. There are sound cards you can go for and dacs its all about what you feel works best for you. Like my questions earlier outlined you have to ask yourself questions for each scenario to see which bests fits your work scenario. 

[x Relentless Xx]

And you are trolling because? I swear this forum sometimes is more toxic then a LoL forum post.

There is no good forum. All forums out there are just people fighting because they think they are better and know more than everyone else. That sums up every forum on the internet.

[calarahil]

There is no good forum. All forums out there is just people fighting because they think they are better, that sums up every forum on the internet.

I suppose you are right. Just irritates me when I try to help someone sometimes the pricks come out and ruin it and try to make it all about them. 

[x Relentless Xx]

I suppose you are right. Just irritates me when I try to help someone sometimes the pricks come out and ruin it and try to make it all about them.

We are living in an immature generation. Where everybody thinks they are better than everybody. Forums feed on arguments and people trying to 1 up each other.

[ShearMe]

Like what? Everyone is giving different examples.

 

I'm just going to make a list of good options to make things a little easier amongst this chaos. If the headphone is above the price next to it, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

Headphones that don't need a soundcard:

• HD 558 @ $140
• ATH-AD500X @ $110
• Fidelio X1 @ $230
• K612 Pro @ $180

Microphones:

• Blue Snowflake @ $40
• Blue Snowball @ $60
• ModMic @ $50
• Zalman Clip-on @ $10

[d3sl91]

I personally just tried 4 pairs of headphones (I too was in the 150-200 range), and brought home 2 pairs. I tried them for a couple weeks, and returned one (I had the M50x's and the AD700's, and kept the M50x's).

 

If you have the ability to buy locally and they are cool with knowing you will be returning a pair in a few weeks... $200 on a pair of headphones (which is all personal opinion on what you like better anyway, you cannot entirely go by what everyone else says) is a good amount of cash, and you'll want to give em a test drive.

[calarahil]

I personally just tried 4 pairs of headphones (I too was in the 150-200 range), and brought home 2 pairs. I tried them for a couple weeks, and returned one (I had the M50x's and the AD700's, and kept the M50x's).

 

If you have the ability to buy locally and they are cool with knowing you will be returning a pair in a few weeks... $200 on a pair of headphones (which is all personal opinion on what you like better anyway, you cannot entirely go by what everyone else says) is a good amount of cash, and you'll want to give em a test drive.

 

Sound advice. If somewhere locally has headphones like the ones that you are looking at and you can test them that could be a good way to go. I would though not go in buying something at a retail store I would look around of course making sure you aren't over spending for something that would cost considerably less elsewhere.

[JoshuaTjandra]

Depends on how much you value your listening experience, are u unhappy with what you have now? if u are unhappy, get a better headphone first (assuming u dont already have one) then get an external soundcard. I reccomend the audioengine d1 which is around 150.

[d3sl91]

Sound advice. If somewhere locally has headphones like the ones that you are looking at and you can test them that could be a good way to go. I would though not go in buying something at a retail store I would look around of course making sure you aren't over spending for something that would cost considerably less elsewhere.

Yeah, thankfully one store we have locally will pricematch most major online retailers (such as amazon). Heck... that's the only reason I buy anything from best buy here in the states.

[calarahil]

Yeah, thankfully one store we have locally will pricematch most major online retailers (such as amazon). Heck... that's the only reason I buy anything from best buy here in the states.

Ha! Quite true. I only go to best buy when they can price match something. I really dislike buying anything there but that is true they do sometimes have the things that you are looking for. In the states I normally go to Microcenter for Mobo's and CPU's and Frys to price match things a lot of the time but surprisingly best buy does have quite the collection online for stuff and if you go in store and have it price matched they will order it and have it delivered to the store for no cost if I remember right. 

[AcidElite]

@calarahil So if I buy say this sound card and I'm using the ATH-M50s, will I get more accurate sound? (I refrain from saying "better" as that's subjective though usually agreeable) 

[calarahil]

@calarahil So if I buy say this sound card and I'm using the ATH-M50s, will I get more accurate sound? (I refrain from saying "better" as that's subjective though usually agreeable) 

 

Would it be better for you to go with a sound card than onboard in my opinion yes. I wasn't terribly happy with that card. To be honest I didn't like that with the Xonar DX which doesn't come with a AMP it however requires a floppy power connection which feeds into a 4 pin molex connection which they include the adapter for. I would personally go with a DAC over the sound card. For me the only reason why I justify a sound card like the STX is when you are going into the territory of headphones that may require a bit more to drive it.

 

Consider this 1.) The Xonar DX costs $79  which does include some variance in sound settings. Meaning you can change your sound stage a little bit. I know I do. Not necessarily simulated surround sound just different Equalizing elements.

 

Cheap sound card the Xonar DG http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020 $30 which does come with a amp.

You could also go with the FiiO E7 USB DAC with External AMP $67

http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B003N0XDT4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1400109122&sr=8-10&keywords=fiio

 

 

I don't know for me personally I sometimes wish I had gone with a external device but its up to you. I feel in the price bracket of the card that you were looking that the FiiO E7 is probably the stronger option unless you are looking to be able to EQ things a bit more. Also keep in mind that with the external dac you can carry that with you and use it with your headphones anywhere you with you mp3 player or laptop w.e.

 

[AcidElite]

Would it be better for you to go with a sound card than onboard in my opinion yes. I wasn't terribly happy with that card. To be honest I didn't like that with the Xonar DX which doesn't come with a AMP it however requires a floppy power connection which feeds into a 4 pin molex connection which they include the adapter for. I would personally go with a DAC over the sound card. For me the only reason why I justify a sound card like the STX is when you are going into the territory of headphones that may require a bit more to drive it.

 

Consider this 1.) The Xonar DX costs $79  which does include some variance in sound settings. Meaning you can change your sound stage a little bit. I know I do. Not necessarily simulated surround sound just different Equalizing elements.

 

Cheap sound card the Xonar DG http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020 $30 which does come with a amp.

You could also go with the FiiO E7 USB DAC with External AMP $67

http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B003N0XDT4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1400109122&sr=8-10&keywords=fiio

 

 

I don't know for me personally I sometimes wish I had gone with a external device but its up to you. I feel in the price bracket of the card that you were looking that the FiiO E7 is probably the stronger option unless you are looking to be able to EQ things a bit more. Also keep in mind that with the external dac you can carry that with you and use it with your headphones anywhere you with you mp3 player or laptop w.e.

 

Not looking for anything external. So maybe the Xonar DG?

[calarahil]

Not looking for anything external. So maybe the Xonar DG?

 

The xonar DG could work its a pretty inexpensive sound card and has that promo 10 dollar rebate card so it's pretty obtainable.

 

I would though advise you take a look at these drivers for the card though. I know that ASUS is a bit weird with there driver delivery with there sound cards.

 

http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

 

Found a newegg review for you with that same headset with the card.

 

 

Pros: - Zero electronic noise due to computer components

- Able to select amplification levels for the headphones depending on the resistance (in Ohm) they have

- Great bass improvement over the Realtek integrated sound card, more powerful sound

- Able to convert 5.1 to 2.0 for headphones use

- Reliable drivers - never crashed or had problems

- Dolby Headphone effect for simulated surround sound

Cons: - None

Other Thoughts: Currently using it with Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones and I think it's the perfect combination for a PC

[AcidElite]

@calarahil Thank you so much for helping me with all this!

[calarahil]

@calarahil Thank you so much for helping me with all this!

 

No problem. Hope you enjoy your new setup!

[Recon-UK]

I only went dedicated for games, plus i doubt my onboard is as good as my previous EVGA board which had an incredible ALC 889.